MachFive 3 - experiments and discussions

[Sampleconstruct]

That's indeed true - it's because each keyzone can have a completely different oscillator type, so it would be chaos allowing changes in the topmost panel.

There's at least a "Batch" button with a decent amount of commonly used functions (change osc type, etc.). Anyways preaching to the choir here, you already know all this.

It's a workflow thing one has to get adapted to. Rather than dragging 20 samples into the mapper, quickly mapping them and then editing e.g. granular parameter modulations for 20 samples simultaneously, one has to do all the modulation settings for 1 keygroup first and then copy it 19 times and then exchange the samples in each zone. This takes about 10 times as long but it will get you there.

[EvilDragon]

Yes, that's very much different from Kontakt - which doesn't have all those different engines, which makes it faster to edit in the long run.

[Sampleconstruct]

I think this demo is worth sharing in this thread:

Demo for MachFive patch "Barrel Scapes" - various barrel samples split across the keyboard all running in granular mode, crossfade between 3 barrels played with a rubber ball and 3 barrels scraped along a concrete floor with the Modwheel, the 8 available Macros were tweaked on the fly.

http://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/b ... -scattered

[Sampleconstruct]

Just a heads up: I can see the finishing line of producing my first library for MachFive, it will be released within the next 2 weeks. Check it out here.

[Sampleconstruct]

I just released Scattered Entity Vol. 1 for MachFive, in case some of you are interested in some fresh sounds for MachFive.

[JCJR]

I'm slowly in the process of setting up a recreational real-time-playing setup.

Will most likely get MachFive at some point. Looks to be a nice sampler and in the past I used to enjoy making samples and patches, might occasionally do that kind of thing as well.

Am currently looking around at various bread-and-butter specialized plugins such as hammond emulators and what have you. Things that might not necessarily work "realistic" in a sampler, even a fancy sampler. I mean, I can call up quasi-hammond sounds on lots of my old synths, but they don't sound as accurate as my recently-deceased Hammond-Suzuki XB or the M3 in my living room.

Also have a bunch of gigasamples I haven't listened to for many years that need re-examination to decide if any are worth keeping. Supposedly MachFive will load the old gigasamples purt good if I decide any of them are worth revival.

Am just guessing that there would be some plugins such as hammond emulator and other niche instruments that would be desirable in addition to a "swiss army knife" such as MachFive.

Anyway, for a real-time-performance computer, for home playing and perhaps even to drag out to a gig occasionally-- A unifying plugin host such as BloXpander looks attractive.

A real-time host that enables multi-plugin splits/layers to be conveniently set up, saved and quickly recalled. A unifying host would be a convenience at home and absolutely mandatory for dragging it out to a gig.

My apologies for rambling-- Here is the relevant question--

I saw a MachFive demo video, where they were playing another VSTi synthesizer hosted inside MachFive. And the MachFive capability for internal splits and layers looks purt kewl.

So my question for the MachFive experts-- Does MachFive have good enough split/layer/scene storage features that it could act as about as ergonomic a VSTi live host as BloXpander?

IOW, use MachFive standalone to "fill in the gaps" by hosting a few specialized VSTi instruments in addition to MachFive's own capabilities?

A competitive upgrade to MachFive costs maybe $300 including the price of an iLok. If MachFive can host other assorted specialized instruments good enough, and has slick scene/combi management--

Then by comparison it would cost in the ballpark of $150 to buy BloXpander and it would cost in the ballpark of $150 to buy SoundLib G-Player to play my old gigasamples. So I could dump $300 on those two or dump $300 on MachFive and have MachFive plus the capabilities of the other two? Assuming MachFive would be a nice enough VSTi host for a few more assorted instruments?

So MachFive might be a "pretty good deal" compared to the alternatives?

Thanks for your ideas.

[audientronic]

I'm slowly in the process of setting up a recreational real-time-playing setup.

...

FYI, If you're in the US, and you own any other sampler (e.g., Sampletank) you can get the MachFive Competitive crossgrade from Musician's Friend for about $210 US during one of their frequent %15 off sales.

[JCJR]

I'm slowly in the process of setting up a recreational real-time-playing setup.

...

FYI, If you're in the US, and you own any other sampler (e.g., Sampletank) you can get the MachFive Competitive crossgrade from Musician's Friend for about $210 US during one of their frequent %15 off sales.

Thanks, will keep an eye open for that. Sweetwater has the comp cross grade for 250, plus the cost of an iLok. Have either gigastudio or sample tank to qualify.

Have looked at lots of machfive videos and read up on it. Looks like a nice gadget. Just curious from users if the standalone split/layer/scene facilities would be as kewl as they appear for playing random access patch setups in a live situation, hopefully also hosting a few ancillary vsti instruments inside the standalone version.

[EvilDragon]

While I love the flexibility and depth of MachFive, I find it's not yet good for live usage IMHO. Kontakt is less CPU and RAM intensive in general (faster loading, too, thanks to binary file format and NI's lossless compression - if used), and via its instrument banks you can also switch patches on the fly without gaps (and you don't necessarily have to resort to using scripts for this!). Splits and layers are of course possible to do in both - it's just that Kontakt is far more optimized. Oh, check out Orange Tree Mind Control, which is an EXCELLENT asset to Kontakt, it works with instrument banks and is a VERY handy tool for all kinds of conditional patch switching.


Regarding Hammond emulation, MF3 isn't gonna cut it. Best arm yourself with GSi VB3 - which is IMHO the best virtual Hammond out there, for quite some time now.

[JCJR]

While I love the flexibility and depth of MachFive, I find it's not yet good for live usage IMHO. Kontakt is less CPU and RAM intensive in general (faster loading, too, thanks to binary file format and NI's lossless compression - if used), and via its instrument banks you can also switch patches on the fly without gaps. Splits and layers are of course possible to do in both - it's just that Kontakt is far more optimized. Oh, check out Orange Tree Mind Control, which is an EXCELLENT asset to Kontakt, it works with instrument banks and is a VERY handy tool for all kinds of conditional patch switching.

Thanks for the good ideas, EvilDragon

A clarifying question-- Assuming that the samples are on SSD-- And also assuming that one only changes settings in-between songs-- Do you still think that MachFive might be too slow for random-access changing of setups on a live gig?

I gig rarely nowadays but did 6-nighters for several decades. I had a policy never to change anything in the middle of a song, because pushing the wrong button in the middle of the song could lead to such horrible trainwrecks.

Before each song I'd push buttons on what used to pass for "master controller keyboards" to set up a bunch of rack hardware for the upcoming song, and then just move the hands between the zones and layers on dual keyboards to play whatever was needed in that song. Using both feet as well, of course. Usually nothing more complicated than 4 zones plus layers spread across two keyboards, though of course some songs would only involve the simple task of playing the pianer all the way thru a song, or whatever.

That is the approximate thing I have in mind for a plugin-based live setup, except even more gooder and leaving the rack of hardware at home. Two keyboards and a computer.

Regarding Hammond emulation, MF3 isn't gonna cut it. Best arm yourself with GSi VB3 - which is IMHO the best virtual Hammond out there, for quite some time now.

Thanks, I suspected so. Downloaded the VB3 demo (among others) to try out.

=====

One more question, and I'll avoid drifting this thread any further--

Is there a generic common name for the kind of software that functions as a live performance split/layer multi-plugin host? Such as BloXpander or a few others I've seen. If there is a generic name for such software, then I could better search for info on those kinds of hosts, and possibly start a thread on such, if I can't find appropriate existing threads.

Thanks!

[EvilDragon]

Whoa, I noticed your reply only now, sorry.


SSD might be indeed beneficial, but it all depends on the amount of stuff that needs to load. Testing things through is always the key.


Regarding hosts, I think they are referred to as "live performance hosts". You have Forte, Cantabile, VSThost, MainStage (Mac only) etc.

[JCJR]

Thanks for the good ideas, Dragon!